There’s rarely a newscast goes by without mention of net zero, the arbitrary target to reduce the release of greenhouses gases, globally, to zero.
Well, not exactly reduce them to zero but to reduce them to the bare minimum and then absorb those still produce by growing trees.
Already we are seeing the effects of climate change with the unpredictable weather with Cumbria having seen its fair share of once in a lifetime events. Remember the ‘once in a lifetime’ floods of 2009, repeated a mere six years later in 2015?
Therefore, the idea that we can reduce emissions of those gases, CO2 being the most prevalent, is most laudable. What is, perhaps, less laudable, is the idea that the UK can be a global lead.
Cumbria Crack Towers is an inefficient building, heating wise, but no one is suggesting knocking it down to build an eco-house. We have more than the mandatory thickness of loft insulation, certainly enough to capture the warmth from the hot air expelled by the Editor servant.
The thick walls hold heat well, the PVC windows and doors keep the heat in and draughts out and the solar panels on the roof provide around a third of the electricity we use.
The downside is that the house is heated by oil and however much anyone bangs on about ground or air source heating, even with any government subsidy, getting the house insulated sufficiently and with the right radiators and pipework – you can’t do underfloor heating with solid floors! – is simply too expensive.
Every Sunday, ‘He who must do as he is told’ takes readings of how much electricity we have used, how much has been generated from the solar panels and dips the tank to see how much oil has been used. All this goes in a spreadsheet alongside a recording of the weather taken from our very own weather station.
We are trying to do our bit, honestly, Alok Sharma, but, and this is a clear admission of defeat: While everyone doing a little mounts up, it is but a single drop in the ocean when other nations talk good and act bad.
I visited India a few years ago and while it is one of the most fascinating countries in the world, you can’t escape the smog generated by their industries and their use of vehicles. I am told it is the same in China but I am banned from visiting as I once sported a Free Tibet poster on my cat flap.
Brazil’s new leader, Luis Da Silva, says he will save the Amazon from deforestation but, despite millions being spent since 2008, deforestation continues apace. And I can’t see OPEC countries doing anything but push fossil fuels for many more years to come.
In the UK, how many businesses have jumped on the carbon offset bandwagon? Buying up tranches of productive agricultural land for tree planting or for solar panel farms. Don’t we need good, fertile land, for food production or is rewilding or feeling smug by offsetting your carbon footprint, more important?
The only thing as sure as death and taxes, is that, in the long, medium, and short term, it will be the man and woman on the Carlisle omnibus who will foot the bill with higher energy prices, higher food prices and being forced to pay more for fuel efficient vehicles and appliances. This week, Lord Stern, the leading economist and Government advisor on climate change, predicted that taxes would have to rise if the 2050 target is to be reached.
How many times have you heard someone say, “we would buy an electric car, but they are just too expensive” or “I will wait until the gas boiler fails before I will even think of replacing it with something more efficient”.
So, is it time to ditch the net zero target? No, and yes!
No, because we have a responsibility to the planet we live on and to the generations, our kittens, to come. Yes, because until you have the technologies in place to support it AND you have a global commitment, not just paying lip service, to it, then it is doomed to be missed like every other government target since time immemorial.
I have my lovely coat which keeps me warm in winter which I shed, much to the annoyance of the vacuum cleaner servant, in summer. Editor servant wears her many years old cardigan as she slaves at the typewriter, while ‘He who must do as he is told’, keeps warm with exercise (he is the vacuum cleaner servant).
We have invested in solar panels and insulation for the house which now saves us, we estimate, 30 per cent in fuel, calculated from the spreadsheets over the past 10 years. We are taking advantage of the £2 bus fares and leaving the Rolls-Royce in the garage (actually, a cheap, diesel run-around).
All of have to do our bit but Government needs to be pragmatic, not pander to those sections of the carbon neutral lobby who simply want to take advantage, and to encourage the little people to do more. It needs to recognise the very real fears about energy price increases after the price cap ends on April 1.
And it needs to remember we are but a series of small islands, no longer a global superpower where our navy ruled the waves. Yes, we are great at innovation and can come up with some of the technological answers, and we have some of the best workers in the world, but we can’t continue to be at the bleeding edge when we are, economically, bleeding profusely.
They can start by ditching the ideological clap trap and come into the real world outside Westminster village. A wood burner might be the height of chic in Kensington, but in the wilds of the Pennines it keeps us warm.
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, from April, will be back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
